Esper innate Vs Spellslinger innate

Like many other people I've been mulling over the differences between these two classes, as they seem similar in many regards. One thing has become a real worry for me, something I cannot verify myself; that is in regards to the Spellslinger's innate power.

So the Spellslinger's innate is basically a toggle buff, on an independent resource system. There has been a lot of discussion about the DPS of a Spellslinger Vs an Esper's DSP. Carbine has come out and said a few times that the Spellslinger is just barely behind the Esper; a trade off for most skills being mobile. My worry is that the Spellslinger DPS is balanced around using their innate to increase DPS.

I looked at the innates more as a "bonus", "get out of jail", "oh sh*t button". Queue the Esper's innate, an invulnerability innate with no downside other than cooldown. If the Spellslinger's innate is nothing more than something you're required to use in your rotations to be "optimal" either for healing or DPS, that doesn't qualify as an innate. In that case the Spellslinger's innate is basically equal to an Esper's psi-points.

tldr
If Spellslinger innate is factored into skill damage balancing, then it is not a bonus it's a requirement making it equal to Esper psi-points. Esper's innate is a pure bonus.

I have to agree, I don't see how anything could out-class an Esper's innate ability in PvP. I can see how the Spellslinger's would be handy once you have a target stunned, pop your innate and hit 'em with any nukes you may have on your bar, but still... I don't see how you can best invulnerability.

Esper innate is 4 seconds ATM and it now also roots you in place for the duration. Spellsurge is a bit more about burst than DPS, as Wendo pointed out above.

As for Esper vs 'slinger, I think you have to look at the entire tool set. The Esper innate is a good panic button, but the Esper lacks abilities (that I have seen) which allow for movement and escape. The 'slinger, on the other hand, has Gate and Void Slip--both which provide an amount of safety not afforded to the Esper. I think the Esper innate is an attempt to make up for the Esper's lack of survivability, just as Spellsurge is an attempt to make up for the 'slinger's relative lack of burst.

I'm actually a fan of the Esper over the 'slinger--but NOT because of the Esper innate. In fact, I don't like it because of the long CD!

I do feel that both innate abilities pair well with the class' respective "vibe". How "strong" they are is not something we can really predict having not played with the game mechanics..

The Esper's innate only lasts 5 seconds (according to the live stream) which is not long at all. I'm currently playing Vanguard where the race innate I've chosen is a 10-second invulnerability; granted the game is a bit slower paced than Wildstar, it only gives me time to pop off another heal or two.

It can surely turn the tide of a battle, but that's what these innate abilities are for (again, straight from the mouth of a developer during a commentary).

The increased damage, duration of CC abilities, and healing from the Spellslinger's innate seems quite powerful as well.. though, this obviously depends on how much these particular items scale and how long before the juice runs out (things which can easily be tweaked with a patch).

I do agree that, while it may not be weaker than the Esper's innate, it does seem like more of a normal rotational ability than a heart-pumping "OH SH!T!!1111!!!1!1one1!1!11!!!!!!1" button. Maybe they can spice it up a bit.

Male Chua, Esper, Scientist -my main and role-played as a schizophrenic (healing focus).

Female Mechari, Engineer, Settler - secondary for when I'm not in the mood for healing or roleplaying (settler focus).

If you're going to pick an Esper over a Spell Slinger simply because of something like 500 dps.....Then what are you doing o.0''

I thought people played a class because of the mechanics of it.

Plus they've already stated many many times over that all classes will be right by each other in damage, just some will be slightly higher because of armor rating. If you really think about it that just means that people are going to prefer things like Dps Warriors in those one fights where there are a ton of adds and aoe damage because your healers are a certain class that may have better single target compared to AoE.

Or maybe your group has really good AoE heals so you can afford those clothies with lower hp but higher damage potential.

Either way I really don't see many people tripping out over how much more damage some classes will provide to others. If they've done their job right on handing out skills according to armor type and range then every group is going to want a good mix match.

This isn't like 40 druids taking down Onyxia because they can spec any way they want and get the job done.

Plus are you talking about PvE or PvP content? Because in PvE you could argue that people really shouldn't be taking damage regardless of armor type if they are doing their job correctly minus those skills that they put in on purpose to injure the group and make healers have to do patch healing.

In PvP, then yeah, why would the Stationary caster compared to the Mobile caster not do a little bit more damage? You have to stand still to cast your skills compared to mobility/kiting. So Slingers could arguably drop you with out getting hit while Espers have skills that have Spell Vamp on them because they require standing for a second to get skills off.

It is honestly a Mage vs Warlock class. Plus, you can always just stack Grit if you really want to in order to deal with stationary spell casting, but then you know your damage may suffer a tad bit for survivability. It's just burst vs sustained at that point. Dead Dps = No Dps.

But overall I like the Slingers passive. I think it is such a decisive skill that is really going to set good ones from mediocre ones compared to most of these classes that have more or less "Oh <REDACTED>/Win" buttons.

I hear you. But i think the strength of the Spellslingers innate is not to raise the dps in an rotation but to be able to have your highest dps or hps at the best times.

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I agree with this, personally. From the official livestreams and the various media (1-15) streams and vids, the esper ability is invulnerability now but stuck and then a long cooldown. Being able to pop the spellslingers innate on and off allows for a lot of tactical options. Like flipping it on for stacking damage modifiers when targets are vulnerable, back off when they recover and just aiming for extra-mega-damage whenever you can, but several times whereas the esper is hanging over the pit of despair until that cooldown comes off.

Largely, though, I'd say it is a playstyle thing. With good control of the innate, the spellslinger is going to excel.